Vanessa Paredes: Beware of wolves in gentlemen’s clothing

As we discussed in class on Wednesday, we tell stories to make others happy, pass on tradition, encourage thoughts on a subject, or share a point of view, to name a few. Thus, we are recognizing that stories are more than just the “solutions” or “resolutions”. Instead, they bring about a greater purpose which is as Robert Coles, child psychiatrist, states “a broadening and even heightening of our struggles”. We can see this point being illustrated in the story of What Bugs Bunny Said to Little Red Riding Hood by Tim Seibles, specifically by the way Little Red is struggling with the unwanted attention and harassment that she receives from Bugs Bunny, like when he says “Say, good lookin, what brings you out thisaway amongst the fanged and the fluffy?” and “The noyve a’that broad sendin you out here lookin like a ripe tomata”. Therefore, this story proves that we are not reading to learn about how there was a happy resolution or how Little Red made it safely to grandmothers, we are reading this story to be cautioned of real world issues and to be enlightened on risky situations that we may encounter.

The many different variations of The Little Red Riding Hood can be each interpreted in their own ways with different morals, lessons, characters, etc but they all have a similar theme of highlighting struggles in the world so that they can be seen at the surface in order to warn and protect.

From the version by Italo Calvino titled, “The False Grandmother”, there are struggles of good and bad addressed and explored. For instance, the little girl symbolizes good when she is obedient by listening to her mother’s request of going to her grandmother’s to borrow her sifter. On the other hand, there is the ogress who metaphorically represents bad; as mythology says they eat infants and children. Another example of the good and bad struggle is when the little girl is trying to escape the ogress she arrives at the Jordan River and the Rake Gate to which the Ogress shouts to not let her pass. They both allow the little girl to pass and states that they do so because the little girl gave them her bread with oil and ring-shaped cakes. This example shows that because the girl was giving, kind, and obedient to their wishes, she is good and good prevails. The ogress on the other hand did not give them any goods and because of this she is considered bad and swept away in the current.

In Charles Perrault’s variation of the story, he refers to the wolf as the “neighborhood wolf” implying that he is not a stranger and he could even be seen as a kind non-predator figure to Little Red and others in the village. Little Red talks with the wolf with no sense of danger. By the end of the story, the wolf eats both the grandmother and Little Red. The moral of the story states that we ought to beware of figures like the neighborhood wolf because although they may not be loud, angry, or brutal in their attempts to do harm, they are still dangerous. The moral says that the “tame, pleasant, and gentle” wolves (symbolizing men) are the most harmful of all because their charming ways don’t ring many alarms and we may be more likely to fall into their plans. It’s important to heighten this concept because stories such like these have happened before where we see a calm and kind looking person be at the forefront of a devastating act.

The Little Red Riding Hood stories are a great example of how stories do more than just solve problems with happy endings. These stories show how generations, cultures, and people all over the world share larger actual struggles through fairy tales or stories in general so that the patterns are less likely to occur.